


The Devil's Grace

by Captain_Lexa



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 17:42:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18254723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Lexa/pseuds/Captain_Lexa
Summary: The world's greatest super villain, Tony Stark, rescues little Peter Parker.





	1. Chapter 1

To be fair… Peter was always a fan of superheroes- not villains.

Sure, Tony Stark was impressive, but Peter just didn’t look at him the same way as he did Thor or Captain America, because Iron Man wasn’t one of the good guys. So when Peter first started donning the costume of Spider-man and investigating a string of crime in his little neighborhood, how was he supposed to connect it back to Tony? He just couldn’t see the signs.

He thought there was just one more cache to bust. One more little job, and he’d be able to take down the whole operation.

Clearly, he was wrong.

The men executing the deal has tech way more advanced than he ever anticipated. Sure, he puts up a pretty good fight, but he’s still just a kid in a home-made costume.

There’s cuts and bruises all along his body, to say the least. He’s also pretty sure he broke his hand, and there’s a small pile of blood underneath him, bleeding out of his costume, but he can’t say for sure where it’s coming from.

Even his senses, as sharp as they are, are fading. He can hardly feel the pain anymore, and when the room suddenly goes quiet, he’s almost certain he’s lost that sense too.

That’s when he hears the door click shut, followed by a slow, deliberate pacing of footsteps towards his limp body.

He tries to look up, but his vision is blurring. All he can tell is that someone’s standing above him, caressing his face in a way that feels as if it’s supposed to be comforting, but instead only makes him that much more terrified. Their thumb only slides that much easier along his skin, once it makes its way through a patch of blood, spreading it across his cheek and over his lips.

Peter hadn’t even noticed his mask ripped.

He tries to open his mouth, to plead or barter, or whatever he had to do to make it out of here, but before he can so much as make a sound… theirs a bright flash of light from the dark figure above him, and the screaming’s only just begun.

When he comes to a day or so later, his body’s completely healed, if not a little achey. He almost thinks he’s in the hospital because of all the high grade medical equipment around him, but that face… the face of Tony Stark, perched on the edge of his bed tells him he’s anything but.

“Frankly kid, I’m impressed you made it as far as you did.”

Peter was sure the sentiment was supposed to be sarcastic, but the look of genuine awe on the villain’s face told another story entirely.

“But I almost died.”

“I’d never let that happen,” Stark refutes breezily, and for some reason, Peter’s tempted to believe him. “You’re much too… good to let that happen. Too innocent….”

Trailing off into silence, his voice almost reflecting the low purr of an engine, Stark’s eyes trailed slowly down the now bare skin of Peter’s torso. It was a fact that had escaped him until now, and he worked quickly to cover it with his blanket- a furious blush spreading down to his chest.

Stark only grinned.

“Already got my eyeful when you were sleeping, baby boy. No worries.”

A shiver ran down Peter’s spine, but for the first time tonight, he couldn’t tell whether it was good or bad. “You didn’t…?”

“I didn’t hurt you,” Comes Stark’s vague answer. “But I did get rid of my men who did.”

“What do mean?” Peter asks, shifting uncomfortably in the silk sheets. “You can’t just fire bad guys.”

Stark’s arched eyebrow and amused smirk tells the sinking feeling in Peter’s stomach that that’s not what happened at all.

“Why don’t you just get dressed? We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all the things I’ll do for you later…. Pete.”

And just like that, he left, leaving Peter trembling and wondering how exactly this man knew his name. What exactly did happen when he was sleeping, and why did Stark seem so sure they’d meet again? Why did Peter want to meet him again??

Nauseated by the answer, Peter made his way over to the backpack on a nearby chair. He unzipped it expecting to find a new pair of clothes, but when he saw the new, high tech Spider-man suit inside, attached to a note that said, “I always take care of what’s mine - TS” he couldn’t find it in himself to be disappointed.


	2. Chapter 2

After their first run in, it seemed as if Tony Stark was perfectly content to vanish from Peter’s life as easily as he had slipped into it. If not for the new, high upgrade of a suit the villain had left in his place, Peter could have probably convinced himself that the other never really existed- not to him, at least.

Still, the suit Peter had been gifted certainly didn’t go unnoticed. With it came great improvements in his fight against crime, and with that came this recognition from the criminals that the community had never granted him before.

The Vulture, in particular, seemed to take a growing interest in the vigilante known as “Spider-man”, growing more and more infuriated with the boy as the new equipment allowed Peter to interrupt every weapon’s deal he tried to execute. In hindsight, it was pretty fitting for Vulture to try and just execute  _him_  next.

Not even Peter’s new suit was enough to wrestle him out of his current situation.

With his heavy boots echoing along the hardwood floor, the Vulture paced in front of him, threatening everything Peter could think to worry about. His life, his friends, his family…. The worst part of it all was that Peter recognized the man as his classmate’s dad, so he knew the stranger now had the knowledge to follow through.

After all, he already broke off the mask to Peter’s suit, cutting off all communication to the surprisingly friendly AI Stark had installed in his suit. (Friendly aside from the “instant kill mode”, of course.) The AI, or Karen as Peter preferred to call her, recommended switching to that mode more than a few times before he had eventually landed himself chained to the wall by some crazy strong alien material that wouldn’t so much as budge under the insistence of Peter’s enhanced strength.

Not even the threat of the gun being held straight to his clammy forehead was enough to get Peter moving. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for it to end.

And end it did. All at once, Peter could feel the gun slipping away from his forehead and the ceasing of his tingling senses that told him “Danger!! Danger!!”.

It was the moment before the darkness, he thought. Only the gasps around him and the touch of a cold, metallic hand to his cheek told him he was wrong.

Slowly cracking open his eyes, Peter peered above him to catch the sight of none other than Stark’s mask- the echo of the villain’s low voice warming the boy’s ears.

“Maybe it’s time you left the fighting to the adults, sweetheart.”  


Peter couldn’t even pry his stunned mouth open to argue before suddenly Stark’s mask was coming down around him and one of those dark, sultry eyes of the billionaire winked. “Don’t move,” He said.

“How could I-”  


The sound of the first body hitting the floor interrupted Peter, leaving him to hide his face in the crook of his arm and do all he could to keep from retching.

There went another one… and another one- all hitting the floor with thuds.

By the time the fight- if you could even call it that- had ended, Peter was shaking with the force of the sobs he was holding back. None of which stopped when he heard the heavy footsteps stop directly in front of him once more.

“Oh come on now, kid. Don’t be a pussy about it, they all knew what you looked like. It wouldn’t be safe to let them go,” Stark mused in what Peter imagined was supposed to be a light-hearted joke.  


He didn’t care. Instead Peter glared from underneath the messy strands of his hair, doing his best to pretend his vision wasn’t obscured by tears.

“Yeah, well so do you, and I don’t see anyone murdering you,” He spat back as bravely as he could in this scenario.  


Stark’s expression made it clear that had been made a mistake.

“What, you don’t  **want**  me to take care of you? You want me to just let these guys off you, and see where that gets you?” He demanded, voice suddenly much louder than before.  


“Well, you didn’t have to kill them!!”  


“No. No, you’re right. I didn’t,” Stark pushed on over him, stepping out of his suit and glaring right down to where Peter’s wide eyes knelt before him. “I did it for you! I did it because I  _care_  about you. Because I-”  


“-You don’t care about anyone.”  


A strong, calloused hand seized his jaw in a tight grip.

“Let me  **finish,** Peter. God, would it kill you to show me a little respect? After everything I’ve done for you…. Do you want me to take the suit back, is that it? You think I should have just killed you when my men trapped you in the warehouse of mine, is that right?”

“No! No, Mr. Stark. Please, I won’t- I  ** _swear_** , I won’t-”  


“Then next time show some gratitude. Aren’t you thankful for me, Peter?” The tone of his voice left no room for question. Peter found himself nodding without so much as a thought as that scarred hand slipped further down to grip his throat loosely in its hold.  


“I’m so thankful, Mr. Stark. I am, I promise.”

The tears were running smoothly down his face now, blinding his vision, but attuning his enhanced hearing to the sound of a zipper being undone.

_“Then show me.”_


End file.
